Poll: Do you stretch for 5 minutes or longer a day?

Stretching

Brennon knows what he's talkin 'bout. Many people have an anterior pelvic tilt, which will make the hamstrings feel tight, because they're in a lengthened position. Strengthen and tighten them, stretch the quads and hip flexors.

I know I stretch every muscle before working it out as a warm-up...and I also continue to stretch that muscle in between each set to keep the muscle from getting to pumped and leaving me incapable of full flexion/ROM.

I also will usually stretch out post-workout to trie and deplete all of the lactic acid from the muscle...and periodically throughout the next day if I'm sore.

My question is...is this enough? Or should I set aside actual sessions of stretching such as when I used to do martial arts?

regards,
COTC

yeah bro I think this is enough. I stretch between sets or flex, and do Dc stretching usually at the end of a training session.

Stretching for flexibility is great and for "some" needed. It's already been mentioned here that it's best to stretch after a workout, but I'll re-emphasize it. I could have summarized a strength & conditioning research article in my own words to sound like a genius like those chemists do when they talk about nomenclatures, but I decided against it. Here's the research article's link, its a heck of a long read, so unless you are truly fascinated by exercise science or have a personal vested interest in the effects of stretching on "PERFORMANCE" don't even bother. It's not a glancer article. http://faculty.fullerton.edu/leebrow...stretching.pdf

I use to practice karate and my sensei honed in on the importance of stretching.. all that went out myear as soon as I finished. Now I am really appreciating the importance of it. Improved flexibility and less soreness allows me to train harder the next day, and that's why I do it. My schedule doesn't allow me to slack and take too many days off just because I'm a bit sore.

Those who mentioned the foam roller - it is so painful, especially on the sides of your legs, but doing it consistently and often makes it more manageable.. I grit my teeth and force it to roll on the toughest parts.. no pain no gain, lol

over strecthing is my biggest problem. I used to strecth 3-4 times a day for 45 minutes. I now have incredible flexibility but a bad right hammy that wont heal. For athletes perfect hamstring flexibility is defined as being able to touch ure toes. I have gone far beyond that and i think im just gonna let it heal and stop strecthing for a while.

I never stretch. I can see the point if you're stiff as ****, but I'm still able to put both my legs behind my neck and stretch my hamstrings standing from a plateau and touching the ground, so I reckon I don't need them. Also I think that if you're too flexible, you could increase the risk of injury by loosing some of your stability. Can't really prove that though.

It is funny that people who are flexible will tell you not to stretch before you workout. If i don't stretch my groin, hams and hip flexors before i squat i am not going to get much acomplished. If i don't stretch my hip flexors before benching my arch is going to suffer. If i don't stretch my hams before i deadlift my back hurts a little.
Some of us who are a little older, a little bigger, and a little more beat up need to stretch just to lift.

It is funny that people who are flexible will tell you not to stretch before you workout. If i don't stretch my groin, hams and hip flexors before i squat i am not going to get much acomplished. If i don't stretch my hip flexors before benching my arch is going to suffer. If i don't stretch my hams before i deadlift my back hurts a little.
Some of us who are a little older, a little bigger, and a little more beat up need to stretch just to lift.

After injuring my hamstring last winter i never static strecth at night or before workouts, only after. Also i will never touch a weight unless i go through 20-30 minutes of activation excercises, dynamic strecthing and foam roller.

Static stretches are a must post-training, especially when done in an extreme fashion. This helps to increase the flexibility of the fascia and increases the level of microtrauma, which leads to more hypertrophy.

I use to never strech for over 2.5 years. Then I started getting horrible back pain. I found out i was due to tight hamstrings, and hips. I started stretching every night, and my back pain has vanished. I also started stretching my calves, and they have grown more in the last two months, than the last 2 years. MArk

I do stretching at the end of my workouts, only at the beginning if its dynamic. More of the extreme style of stretching... hold it with weight for 45-60 seconds at the end of your workout on that muscle group.

I only stretch after warmup sets and inbetween sets. I do martial arts, but letting the ligaments and tendons stretch inbetween sets adds to my hypertrophy and keeping most of my flexibility (which was never the best due to genetics)

its not good to stretch the muscle you are training that day, it takes away explosive power.. you should always warm up with weights tho to get your "blood pumping".. but it is very healthy and very beneficial to stretch that muscle on a non training day.